


The Not-So-Lonely Road

by NyatAWriter



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-31 03:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3962383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyatAWriter/pseuds/NyatAWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They weren't able to live in the woods, so they brought the woods to them. Lydia had worked hard on this house. For him. For the Pack. The house already permeated with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Not-So-Lonely Road

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still pretty much new to the whole... posting my fics on here thing, and not all the tagged characters say or -do- anything, really. They're mostly just mentioned. Any advice on trudging through it is GREATLY appreciated. Any thoughts on the story is equally accepted :) Enjoy!
> 
> Also, this went from hard copy straight here, so pointing out any grammatical errors would be fantastic. Thanks!

Derek was used to doing things on his own by now. His family had all died in the fire that took his home, and six years later his sister joined the rest of their family. Even when his sister _was_ alive, he would spend weeks to months traveling cross-country on his own. He would send Laura a postcard and shot glass from each new place he visited.

One time, after he hadn't visited her in three months, Derek finally came back and Laura chewed him out like never before. By the end of the day, she had used her Alpha to make him promise to never stay away for so long. She didn't need to. From then on, Derek would stay with her for a week, travel for a month, then come back for another week-long visit. Once, she had tried apologizing for using her Wolf. Derek gave her a look and shook his head, but as a sign of affection, he had placed his forehead on hers. It took all their strength to not cry, for it had been something their mother used to do.

But Laura wasn't there anymore either, and Derek was companion-less for a shorter time than he had thought he would be. It had taken nearly a year, but he and Scott finally began working together. Which was all the best, because with Scott came the trust of Erica, Isaac, Boyd, and even Jackson and Lydia. It was hardest to gain Stiles's and Allison's trust, which didn't happen until after he found out his younger sister Cora was alive, a Kitsune name Kira came to town, and another surprise was unveiled; he had a cousin named Malia he had no idea about.

He had stepped down from the Alpha status given to him from the deaths of Laura and Peter and became an Omega to Scott's True Alpha form. Then came the most loyal and mixed Pack Derek had ever seen; five Betas from different Alphas, on Werecoyote, a Kitsune, a Banshee, two humans (Danny's no-nonsense, "You'll either get yourselves killed or exposed without me", had swayed Scott to keep him in the loop), two Hunters, Sheriff Stilinski, Nurse McCall, and then there was Derek. And all of a sudden, Derek wasn't alone anymore.

At first, Pack meetings would be at Derek's loft, but Sheriff Stilinski once made a comment about how bare it seemed while giving Derek a _look_ and he began looking for a spacious home. At one point, Derek had gotten so frustrated that he asked himself why he was even looking for a new place when the lost was perfectly habitable. Then, he recalled Sheriff Stilinski's face and he knew; Sheriff Stilinski had given Derek the same look his father would give him to make him man up and just  _do_ something. So Derek did, and he found a nice six bedroom, three and a half bath house and signed on the dotted line without giving the price a second glance.

For some reason, Allison, Lydia, Malia, Kira, and Erica took it upon themselves to be on the decoration team. Quite typically, in Derek's opinion, Erica was there mainly just to gossip. Lydia told Derek he could only plan his own room (so long as she could tweak it as she saw fit. She didn't). After Lydia's first walk-through to start planning, she informed Derek that she envied him for his kitchen which, apparently, was practically a chef's kitchen. He had shrugged and told her she could use it as much as she wanted because he'd more than likely be mainly eating take-out. Her face had softened for a second before an all-too familiar gleam was in her eyes and said that he's learn to regret the offer. He hoped not.

The first time Derek stayed at Stiles's house while Lydia and the team began decorating (Scott was already housing Isaac, but told Derek that Stiles had an extra room. Stiles had begun expressing his dislike of the plan, but Scott had given him a hard look and Stiles offered the room himself) had been awkward and uncomfortable.

"I'm just glad you aren't dating my son." Sheriff Stilinski had said. Stiles had given a forced laugh, but that was that. From then on, the Sheriff asked Derek questions as if he had lived with them for years or was a relative that was visiting. Derek ended up staying with the Stilinski's for almost a month.

When Derek finally stepped into the finished house, he had nearly dropped his bags and gone outside to see if he was at the right address. The interior looked so much like the Hale house in the woods, he thought he was fifteen and seeing his home for the last time again. After a few minutes, he sensed Cora come up next to him.

"There were pictures of the house in the underground vault at school for insurance. So I showed Lydia and she replicated it as much as possible." Derek had turned to his little sister and saw she had tears in her eyes. "Mom would have been so proud of you, Der." He took a deep breath and shut his eyes. "Let's take a walk down memory lane, brother dear." She clasped his hand in hers and together they walked through their remade home.

The living room was a stormy blue-grey with a large area rug over hardwood flooring. There were little, minor differences, but not things someone unlike Derek who had been picturing his childhood home for the past nine years would notice. Derek ran his hand along the back of the couch and gave a chuckle when he saw a familiar looking lamp.

"I know what you're thinking," said Cora, smirking. "When Lydia saw it I thought she'd have a heart attack. 'Oh my goodness, is that a 1950's brass wooden milk glass... with a petticoat?!'" Cora scoffed. "She called it retro. I told her about how mom only got it at a garage sale because when dad saw it he said it looked like something Grandma would keep around. If looks could kill..."

They walked into the pale, pale yellow kitchen and Derek ran his hands over the marble countertop and looked out the window over the sink and half expected to be seeing the forest, but instead was looking at a backyard with a deck that had a pond in front and garden on the sides, and the surrounding houses. Derek closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 'Similar looks, different location,' he thought to himself. He walked to the adjacent breakfast nook, so many memories of the past going through his mind. He remembered watching his mother cook breakfast before she decided he should help because one day she wouldn't be there for him to just  _watch._ He remembered his father, who had died shortly Cora was born, humming as he helped prepare dinner for Meetings. He remembered Peter sitting at the island with a beer in his hand, trying to act older than what he was.

Derek jarred himself from the memories and walked down the basement stairs. Once again, he was taken aback. He was looking at a personal gym. There was a punching bag, free weights, all of the necessities. Along one wall, he saw three doorways that led to guest bedrooms that were all set up and furnished. There was another doorway leading to a decently sized bathroom already stocked with toiletries, towels, shower gels, the whole nine yards. Derek was impressed with Lydia's ability to make it all neutral and still tying together. Then again, it was Lydia. He was still impressed, just not surprised. He climbed back up the stairs and went through the dining room to get to the other stairs.

The walls were a brown that had been textured in such a way they looked like bark. The table and chairs were a tone or so lighter, and the carpet was moss green. They weren't able to live in the woods, so they brought the woods to them. Derek walked through, and as he ascended, he gripped the railing, but not enough to damage it. Lydia had worked hard on this house. For him. For the Pack. The house already permeated with them. At the landing, Derek could only stare. For on the wall between the first guest bedroom on that floor to the left and the supply closet on the right, were pictures. So many pictures. Old and new, young faces and worn faces. Serious faces. Jovial faces. _Pack_  faces. Derek, Cora, and even Malia's ancestors. He touched a family photo of himself, Laura, baby Cora in their mother's arms, and their father. Derek brushed a tear away and turned left.

The first guest bedroom was definitely masculine. There was a full bed, closet, desk, dresser, and the room was big enough to have a couch that could pull out into a bed. Derek guessed this room was for Scott, and he smiled. An Alpha was good for emergencies and even just for comfort. He left the room and, instead of using the hallway, went through the adjoining bathroom. Neutrality at its best. He wondered at how many arguments about counter space he'd have to break before he actually  _looked_ at how much space there was and laughed at himself. Of course there would be plenty. And a _very_  nice shower and separate tub. He realized he hadn't looked at the details of the basement bathroom, but he hadn't walked through it, only cursory glanced. Then, he was in the other guest room. Derek's eyebrows raised.

_Definitely_  feminine. There were two full beds, and two vanity dressers that were decked to the nines like either a hair salon or the dressing room of a model. Derek didn't stick around. Just rolled his eyes and left for the master bedroom. Unlike the other rooms, the master door was closed. His arm outstretched, Derek took deep breaths before opening the door. Then, he could only stare. And stare. Then stare some more. Cora, who had been quietly following him (she had giggled when he left her and Malia's room), poked him in the back.

"This one you have to do on your own." With that, she gave another nudge and walked downstairs.

His room was an amber yellow, just as it had been. He had a hardwood floor and a desk with one of those green library lamps. Every surface, every space of wall, was absolutely  _covered_ in pictures. He could detect two empty spots. Then he noticed an envelope on his bed. He opened it and two pictures and a letter fell out. In handwriting that looked so much like Laura's, Cora had written one sentence. "Der-bear, we are so proud of you." On one picture, there was a younger version of himself and Laura smiling up at him. On the back, in similar writing as the letter was, "Our Der-bear bunny and I send you so much love, Cor!" So Laura had known Cora was alive. Of course she did. She was protecting her like always.

The other picture had far more people. An older version of Derek (compared to the other picture, at least), Cora, Lydia, Stiles, Scott, Nurse McCall, Sheriff Stilinski, Allison, Chris, Erica, Boyd, Isaac, Danny, Jackson, Malia, Kira. They were all there. Smiling, too. Derek shuddered a breath and sat on the bed, overcome with emotion. After long moments of just deep breathing, Derek looked up and saw most of them there, looking concerned in the doorway at him. Breaking her normal habit, because this was  _Derek_ freaking out, Lydia began speaking out of nerves.

"I  _told_ Stiles not to put so many pictures, but he insisted they were  _all_ important, and it's infuriating trying to argue with him, I swear..."

"Lydia," Derek tried.

"...And even when he's wrong, he just keeps going and going. He tried saying that if you didn't like it you could just take them down, but I said, 'Yeah, _sure,_ but the initial psychological damage might -"

"Lydia!" She stopped and clamped her mouth shut. "I love the pictures. I love my ragtag Pack. Who wants pizza?" Everyone smiled and Scott declared he would get the pizza. They all dispersed, except for Stiles. He sat next to Derek on his bed and looked at the picture of Derek and Laura. Stiles began, hesitantly at first, then gaining confidence, to speak.

"Once, when you were... you were delirious from a wolfsbane wound... you talked to me about her. Laura, I mean." Stiles licked his lips. "You said it was so lonely without her. You said, 'The road I travel has never been so empty'. A poet even in delirium." They gave a huff of laughter. "Then you said, 'Why can't they see how much I have loved them?'"

Derek grimaced, remembering it slightly different. "I... wasn't talking about Laura." Derek looked intently at Stiles's confused face. "I was talking about you." Stiles's eyes widened.

"Oh. Oh." Then, Stiles had his lips pressed against Derek's. They pulled away after a moment, and Stiles whispered his question at Derek's still-close lips. "How lonely is the road now?" Derek thought of the pictures on his walls, the people downstairs in his new home, the body pressed against his. He smiled.

"Not at all." He brought Stiles back to him.


End file.
